Kings XI upset Delhi to win 3 in a row

Match 44 : Win the toss and bat first has been the success mantra on the Delhi pitch leaving out the game when Hayden exploded with his mongoose but it was not long ago that the pitch at Feroz Shah Kotla was criticized and subsequently banned for a year. The devil in the pitch all of a sudden became alive and Delhi crumbled to hand Kings their 3rd win in a row. Who said T20 was only a batsmen’s game??

Kings XI Innings

Chasing a below par score of 112,Mahela Jayawardene and Irfan walked out to open the innings for Kings XI and never looked to go hard at the ball knowing that they needed less than 6 an over. They scored just 39 runs in the first 6 overs. Irfan who was sent presumably to get some quick runs could only manage 12 from 17 before holding out to deep midwicket. Mahela was at his classiest best playing the orthodox shots but an attempt to slog sweep Collingwood saw his demise for 38 from 35 balls. Sangakkara too played cautiously for his 33 before being bowled by Collingwood. However Yuvraj and Barath knocked out the remaining runs without much trouble. PHOTOS

Delhi Daredevils Innings

Gambhir won the toss and decided to bat which was no surprise. Sehwag got out for a first ball duck in the 2nd over when he hit one straight to the midwicket. However Gambhir was on fire belting 5 boundaries in the first 10 balls he faced. Delhi raced to 40/1 in 21 balls before madness struck. Gautam Gambhir and David Warner were run out within three balls of each other. Gambhir was the first man to go when Warner called him for a run and turned him back but it was too late. It was the 5th time this season that Gambhir has been run out. Warner’s dismissal was an action replay but this time it was Collingwood who turned Warner back. 69 runs came in the remaining 95 balls which would have been slow going by even Test standards these days. It was a day out for the spinners as they bowled 12 overs between them for 55 runs. Piyush Chawla and Irfan Pathan starred with the ball for Punjab picking up two wickets apiece while Love Ablish, Yuvraj Singh and Juan Theron picked up a wicket each. To sum it up, Ramesh Powar bowled 17 dot balls in his 4 overs which sums up how the innings turned up for Delhi.PHOTOS